Beech House Canal Bridge (‘Red Bridge’) in Ellesmere to be strengthened

Essential work to strengthen Beech House Canal Bridge (known locally as ‘Red Bridge’), which carries the Ellesmere to Tetchill road over the Shropshire Union Canal alongside Ellesmere Marina, is to start on Monday 1 July 2013. 

The proposed work, which is necessary because the bridge has been assessed as being weak, will involve casting a new reinforced concrete saddle over the top of the bridge’s existing arch barrel. 

Unfortunately, to carry out the proposed work safely, it will be necessary to close the bridge to traffic for the duration of the work.  The bridge will therefore be closed to traffic for a period of up to nine weeks starting on 1 July.  However, during this time, the canal and its towpath underneath will remain open as normal.  

When the bridge closure is in place traffic to and from Ellesmere will be diverted via Lee, Spunhill and the A528 road. For safety reasons a temporary 30mph speed restriction will also be introduced on the A528 road at the Spunhill junction. 

Access over the bridge for pedestrians and dismounted cyclists will remain available throughout the work.

Although the bridge closure period has been deliberately chosen to coincide with Ellesmere College’s summer holiday period, the college will still be running some holiday time courses.  Therefore, in an attempt to avoid traffic jams occurring due to coaches accessing and leaving the college trying to pass each other on the narrow Lee to Spunhill road, coaches leaving the college will be diverted back to Ellesmere via Birch Hall, Tetchill and the A495 road near Newnes.

Before the bridge is closed to traffic, work will be carried out to build vehicle passing places along the Spunhill to Lee and the Tetchill to Newnes roads.  The Tetchill to Newnes work will be carried during the week starting 17 June, and the Spunhill to Lee work during the week commencing 24 June.

Unfortunately, when the passing places are being built, it is possible that drivers using these roads will experience long construction-related delays.  Therefore, with the exception of people wishing to access properties situated along these lanes, drivers will be advised to follow alternative signed routes.   

Although the majority of the proposed bridge work will be carried out during summer 2013, it will be necessary to return in the winter to carry out repairs to the underside of the bridge.  Unfortunately, this work cannot be carried out any earlier as it will require a temporary closure of the canal.  At present the Canal & Rivers Trust have indicated a provisional start date of 6 January 2014 for the canal closure, but are yet to confirm this.

When the winter work is underway, the bridge will remain open to traffic.

The contractor carrying out all of the work will be McPhillips (Wellington) Ltd, who will be supervised by Shropshire Council’s term contract consultant, Mouchel.

The estimated cost of the proposed work is £105,000.

To enable the council to fully explain the proposals to local residents, it is proposed to hold a public meeting at Ellesmere Town Hall on Monday 17 June 2013 at 7pm.  Councillors and officers will be present at this meeting to discuss any scheme-related issues.

Claire Wild, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for bridge maintenance, said:

‘It is appreciated that the bridge closure will cause some inconvenience, particularly given that, in places, the diversion route is narrow.  However, I hope that people can understand that the work is necessary to ensure that the bridge can continue to remain open to all traffic in the long term.  In the meantime, everyone involved will do all that they reasonably can to reopen the bridge as soon as possible.”